ST. LOUIS - Astros owner Drayton McLane and general manager Tim Purpura reiterated their commitment Wednesday to keeping Craig Biggio beyond this season so the franchise icon can collect his 3,000th hit in an Astros uniform.

Although Biggio can become a free agent after this season, McLane has been steadfast in his declarations that as long as Biggio wants to stay in Houston to collect his 3,000th hit, the probable Hall of Famer will get that opportunity in the city he has called home since 1988.

McLane, who has re-signed Biggio multiple times, values the 40-year-old second baseman for his play as much as for what he has meant to the city. Biggio and his wife, Patty, have raised more than $2 million for the Sunshine Kids over the years to support children battling cancer.

"We certainly want him back," McLane said a day after Biggio acknowledged he will go after his 3,000th hit next year even if he has to leave Houston.

'Next year will be historical'

Despite an 0-for-20 slump, Biggio is only 84 hits away from that milestone. In August, Purpura and Biggio's agent,
Barry Axelrod
, began preliminary talks on a contract extension. Purpura and McLane expect to resume those negotiations with Axelrod and get a deal done for Biggio.

"Next year will be historical," McLane said. "We want him to get his 3,000th hit with the Astros, and we've made that clear. That is not an issue and hasn't been an issue. No one has meant more to our community development department than Craig and Patty Biggio."

Biggio, who is in his 19th season with the club, was moved by McLane's comments.

"It means a lot," he said. "It gives you confidence, and I've always had confidence that things would work out. I'm sure that Drayton would hate to see it end, and I'd have to go somewhere else to play. It's very encouraging."

Purpura has expressed the team's commitment to Biggio in his discussions with Axelrod.

"At that point, there was no urgency to get anything done right away," Purpura said. "It was more of a situation of just touching base and seeing where both sides stood. Barry said he felt like Craig wanted to return, and I told Barry that we would want Craig to return.

"Everybody believes that he'll be back unless something has changed in the interim that would cause him to not want to do that, which I don't think there is."

First things first

One reason a deal hasn't been worked out already is the club's focus on trying to salvage the season and possibly make a run at the wild card.

"Right now the priority is this ballclub and trying to finish out the season strong and be the best that we can be in these last (17) games," Purpura said. "That's the priority. We want to finish strong."